Depression: A Scientific Approach

"Forty years ago patients suffering from schizophrenia occupied half of all the mental hospital beds and one-quarter of all hospital beds. Today, most of the mental hospitals have shut down but they have not disappeared. By refusing to accept patients,and by discharging them before they are ready for independent living, they converted the community into the new mental hospitals. About half of the homeless people on our streets are schizophrenics, many of whom have been treated in mental hospitals or psychiatric wards, placed on tranquilizers, and then discharged to fend for themselves."

Dr. Abram Hoffer

Introduction

The above quote from Hoffer's website applies to depression as well.

"Today, the modern mental hospital, which is the streets with their rundown hotels, nursing homes, foster homes and so on, provides tranquilizers for some, pays no attention to food, provides little shelter and provides no protection for patients and for society. But they do have much more freedom to be sick, to roam, to refuse medication, to prey upon others, to be preyed upon by others." Hoffer

Hoffer favors what is sometimes called "complementary and alternative" medicine. He calls it "orthomolecular" medicine. He is not that fond of psychiatric drugs.

"The end results are the same. Patients do not recover. The recovery rate today is certainly under 15% which is one-third of the recovery rate achieved in 1850 in England and in the USA in the Dorothea Lynde Dix hospital in the eastern part of the country. In my opinion, the street schizophrenics today are no better off than they were in 1950. They suffered tremendously then from psychiatric ignorance from this socially rejected disease, and they suffer today from psychiatric refusal to examine a much better treatment called orthomolecular therapy."

Hoffer feels that the drugs can make a normal person sick.

Depression

There is a view that Vincent van Gogh had bipolar disorder. He committed suicide in 1890. Suicide can also be a symptom of schizophrenia. Van Gogh mutilated one ear. He was put in an asylum for a while. Unfortunately he wasn't cured. There were no psychiatric drugs at that time.

There is also a view that Abraham Lincoln had depression, which was then called "melancholia". His wife, Mary Todd, had it even worse. She went into an asylum when he was assassinated.

There is an opinion that Winston Churchill had bipolar disorder. This view was advocated by his son, Randolph, who was a writer. Churchill himself was a writer also, and he wrote several volumes about the history or World War II and the events leading up to it. In bipolar disorder the patient swings from depression to mania. Churchill had periods when he was enormously productive, and this was also true of van Gogh.

Side Effects

"On the physical side they develop tardive dyskinesia, other types of neurological conditions, impotence, obesity, and skin problems. Patients are no more fond of these latter symptoms than they are of their natural schizophrenia, and many prefer to be psychotic rather than suffer the ravages of this iatrogenic disease.
Orthomolecular therapy provides patients with a third choice, to become normal and stay well." Hoffer

Hoffer's comments apply to both depression and schizophrenia. My view is that the two diseases are similar. Both involve a diabetes of the brain in which brain glucose metabolism is slow. This happens because amino acids flood the cells and are burned for fuel by the brain instead of glucose. In particular tryptophan appears to be the worst offending amino acid.

A British group, Wood et al, found tryptophan accumulation in platelets in depression. I agree with Hoffer that orthomolecular treatment should be used. However, I favor a low tryptophan diet. I favor the used of polyphenols and flavonoids. Flavonoids have good side effects, as do other polyphenols.

Conclusions

I have published a large number of articles on these subjects. The bibliography lists some of these. I favor the use of good nutrition to treat a number of diseases. Even cancer can be helped by nutrition. The first chemotherapy drug was nitrogen mustard, which was also used for chemical warfare. It was similar to mustard gas. I find it incredible that such a toxic substance was used as a "therapy". The failure rate was very high in the early days of cancer treatment, unfortunately.

Orthomolecular treatment is cheaper and safer and more logical. This does not mean that surgery should always be rejected for cancer. You can use both surgery and nutrition.

Bibliography

1. www.associatedcontent.com/article/804241/schizophrenia_as_neuronal_disease_.html

2. www.associatedcontent.com/article/796059/a_scientific_hypothesis_for_schizophrenia.html

3. www.associatedcontent.com/article/792401/hypoglycemia_and_mental_illness.html

4. www.associatedcontent.com/article/782431/conquering_schizophrenia.html

5. www.associatedcontent.com/article/778443/super_nutrition.html

6. www.associatedcontent.com/article/772715/foods_that_heal_and_foods_that_harm.html

7. www.associatedcontent.com/article/769443/a_brief_history_of_schizophrenia_research.html